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Records to Die For 2021 Page 6

Robert Schryer

The Moody Blues: In Search of the Lost Chord
Deram/London Records DES 18017 (LP). 1968. Tony Clarke, prod.; Derek Varnals, Adrian Martins, engs.

Never a big Moody Blues fan, on a whim I picked up a cheaply priced used copy of In Search of the Lost Chord. I liked it a lot more than I expected to. It's a late '60s concept album, a concept I dig when done right. It's electric-guitar-driven, but it includes 33 different instruments; it sounds ambitiously Beatles-esque in some places, brimming with youthful energy and ideas of a band on the cusp of…

A lifelong passion

This gig has many perks—but the best one without a doubt is the cool, interesting people I get to "meet."

I should explain the quotation marks. Since starting this job, in April 2019, I haven't gotten out much. Even before the pandemic, I was too busy to do much of anything except edit the magazine. So, many of the interesting people I've "met," I've still never seen in person.

One of those is John Swenson, who has written music reviews for Stereophile since his first contribution, a 1996 review of REM's New Adventures in Hi-Fi. In 1999, he wrote our Recording of the Month review…

dCS Rossini Player & Rossini Clock Page 2

Turning to the sound of DSD files: The only UPnP server I have on my Mac mini is Twonky Server, which doesn't play DSD files (footnote 2), but I could play DSD recordings via the Rossini Player's USB port, sourced from my Aurender N10 server. As I mentioned earlier this year, in constant rotation these past months has been the complete set of Brahms Piano Trios performed by violinist Christian Tetzlaff, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, and pianist Lars Vogt (DSD128 files, Ondine/HDtracks), and engineered by René LaFlamme. (The Rossini app reported these files as having a sample rate of 5644.8kHz…

Chord Electronics Qutest D/A processor

Back in the mid-1990s, I believed that the design of D/A processors was fundamentally a solved problem. The resistor-ladder, multi-bit DAC chips of the 1980s, with their linearity errors, had been replaced by sigma-delta types that had minimal linearity error down to the lowest signal levels. All that remained for the designers of PCM D/A chips was to increase resolution and dynamic range to the theoretical limits, and to improve the mathematical precision of oversampling digital filters to match the performance of the 20- and 24-bit recordings that had just begun to be released.

Twenty…

Gold Note Mediterraneo X record player

Though the hotel halls of Capital Audiofest 2023 were not as busy as some exhibitors might have hoped, the event's listening rooms were filled to the brim with choice equipment, practically overflowing. One piece that captured my attention was a turntable that embodies thoughtful design and contemporary Italian style: the Gold Note Mediterraneo X ($12,999). This elegant turntable combines traditional materials with touch-friendly digital technology in arresting fashion.

An exploration of the artistry and expertise behind the Mediterraneo X is a journey through Italian craftsmanship.

…

November 2022 Jazz Record Reviews

Keith Jarrett: Bordeaux Concert
Jarrett, piano
ECM 2740 (CD, available as 2 LPs, download). 2022. Keith Jarrett, prod.; Martin Pearson, eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½

At first, to hear this record is to be overwhelmed with sadness. Keith Jarrett suffered two strokes in 2018. It is unlikely that he will ever perform again. Bordeaux Concert reminds us of what we have lost. It comes from a European tour in 2016. ECM has previously released two other concerts from that tour, Munich 2016 in 2019 and Budapest Concert in 2020.

The improvised solo piano concert is an…

Merging Hapi MkII multichannel digital processor Page 2

Apparently accurate reproduction of a Bösendorfer piano is no small achievement, but the piano is just one instrument, albeit one with wide dynamic and frequency range. A large orchestra playing Mahler is a different kind of challenge. Jason Victor Serinus favorably reviewed Rafael Payare and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal's recording of Mahler's Symphony No.5 (Pentatone PTC5187067) in the September 2023 issue of Stereophile. His only caveat was that it "may lack ultimate transparency." Perhaps so but, listening to the 5.1 channel 24/96 download from pentatonemusic.com, I cannot fault…

CAF2016: Herb Gets It On

Think hip, young, handsome, and smart—with (maybe) some grease under his fingernails. Besides being one of my favorite loudspeaker manufacturers, Zu Audio's Sean Casey and his daughters restore vintage motorcycles. Sean is also a dancing party guy with a pile of records that follows him around like dust follows Pig Pen. And . . . he's a Left Coast guy that gets to hang with mellow smart dudes like Nelson Pass (Pass Labs).

At CAF Sean was knee deep in vinyl demonstrating his Definition Mk.IV loudspeakers ($12,500/pair in Hickory wood), He was using a beyond-super-cool vintage Luxman PD444…

Day One for Herb Reichert

Jason Victor Serinus, Sasha Matson, and myself spent crazy time before the show started talking, scheming and dividing up RMAF rooms. But, in the end, after hours of planning, I finally declared, "You two cover the audio rock stars, I'll go find the rooms of the lesser known, still unknown, or up-and-coming, exhibitors that may have not made show-report headlines in the past.

One such newcomer was Dennis Fraker, of Serious Stereo ("We Build What It Takes") who, besides trafficking in alliteration, made Rosanne Cash's "She's Got Your Picture" sound sad, sexy and real. He was driving his…

2014 Records To Die For Page 6

JASON VICTOR SERINUS

Jonas Kaufmann: Wagner
Wesendonck-Lieder, plus scenes and arias from: Rienzi, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Die Walküre, Siegfried, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Jonas Kaufmann, tenor; Orchestra of the German Opera Berlin, Donald Runnicles
Decca 478 5189 (CD). 2013. David Groves, prod.; Philip Siney, eng. DDD. TT: 74:21

It's no surprise that this all-Wagner CD from the most versatile tenor of the decade has received multiple accolades, including from my colleagues Robert Levine and Richard Lehnert. Released to commemorate the 200th anniversary of…